PhpStorm 2018.1 Help

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JavaScript

With PhpStorm, you can develop modern web, mobile, and desktop applications with JavaScript and Node.js. PhpStorm supports JavaScript and TypeScript programming languages, React and Angular frameworks and provides tight integration with various tools for web development.

On this page you will find a short Getting Started Guide that will walk you step by step from creating a web application to debugging and testing it.

Creating a new application

Choose File | New Project on the main menu or click Create New Project on the Welcome screen. The Create New Project Dialog opens.

In the left-hand pane, choose Empty Project.

In the right-hand pane, specify the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored. Click Create.

Using multiple JavaScript versions

If you are working on an application that uses both ECMAScript 5.1 and a newer version of ECMAScript, or JSX, or Flow, the easiest way is to choose the highest language version for the whole project from the drop-down list on the JavaScript page. For example, if you use ES5.1 and JSX, enable JSX (since it is a superset of ES5.1 and ES6).

To configure different JavaScript language versions for different folders

On the JavaScript page, click next to the JavaScript language version drop-down list. The JavaScript Language Versions dialog opens.

Click and in the dialog that opens select the folder where you need a custom language version. PhpStorm brings you back to the JavaScript Language Versions dialog where the selected folder is shown in the Path field.

From the Language drop-down list, choose the language version for the files in the selected folder. In all the other JavaScript files in the project PhpStorm will use the version chosen on the JavaScript page.

Downloading npm dependencies

Alternatively, run npm install in the Terminal.

Before you start, install Node.js. If your application uses some tools, libraries, or frameworks, download the required packages.

To install a package in an empty project

If you already have a package.json file in your project

Right-click the package.json file in the editor or in the Project tool window and choose Run 'npm install' on the context menu.

Configuring code completion for project dependencies

To provide code completion for project dependencies, PhpStorm automatically creates a node_modules library. In PhpStorm, a library is a file or a set of files whose functions and methods are added to PhpStorm's internal knowledge in addition to the functions and methods that PhpStorm retrieves from the project code that you edit. See Configuring JavaScript Libraries for details and examples.

Auto import in JavaScript

PhpStorm can generate import statements for modules, classes, components, and any other symbols that can be exported and called as a type. If you are using ES6 in your project, PhpStorm can add missing import statements on the fly, when you complete ES6 symbols. For earlier JavaScript versions or when auto import on completion is disabled, PhpStorm marks the symbol as unresolved and shows a tooltip: On pressing Alt+Enter, PhpStorm displays the suggested quick-fix: If there's more than one possible source of import, PhpStorm shows a list of suggestions:

If you are using dynamic imports with import(), PhpStorm completes the properties of the imported module and lets you jump back to their definitions with Ctrl+B:

To add ES6 import statements on code completion

In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), click General under editor, and then click Auto Import. The Auto Import page opens.

In the TypeScript/JavaScript area, select the Add ES6 imports on code completion checkbox.

Running JavaScript in browser

In the editor, open the HTML file with the JavaScript reference. This HTML file does not necessarily have to be the one that implements the starting page of the application.

Do one of the following:

Choose View | Open in Browser on the main menu or press Alt+F2. Then select the desired browser from the pop-up menu.

Hover your mouse pointer over the code to show the browser icons bar: Click the icon that indicates the desired browser.

Debugging JavaScript

PhpStorm provides a built-in debugger for your client-side JavaScript code that works with Chrome. You can also debug your client-side JavaScript in Firefox, version 36 and higher. However it is strongly recommended that you use Chrome or any other browser of the Chrome family. With PhpStorm, you can debug JavaScript applications running on the built-in server, on an external server, or on a remote server. For details, see Debugging JavaScript in Chrome and Debugging JavaScript in Firefox.